


Dum Spiro Spero

by TwilightKnight17



Series: How to Kill a God [3]
Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Gen, Goro's doing his best, P5R Spoilers, Palace Deadline Ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26964832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwilightKnight17/pseuds/TwilightKnight17
Summary: Nothing in this world is without a weakness.If you cannot find one,make one.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kurusu Akira
Series: How to Kill a God [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967740
Comments: 12
Kudos: 98





	Dum Spiro Spero

Maruki may have been basically a god, but he wasn’t perfect.

His sphere of influence was gradually expanding, though. Mementos was the mindscape of Tokyo, and allowed him rule over the city. On the day of fates, when it merged with the real world, his ability to manipulate the city’s cognition had manifested in full. But the rest of Japan, and the rest of the world, still had their autonomy. For the moment.

Goro had entertained the idea of leaving Tokyo more than once. Each time, something held him back. Whether it was the knowledge that he wouldn’t be able to outrun this forever, or the need to find Akira and figure out what happened to him, or one of many other reasons, it kept him tied to the disgustingly cheerful city. But now, his reasons to stay had been sharpened to three, bright and clear in his mind:

Wake Akira  
Fix reality  
Kill Maruki

Of course, killing Maruki was probably the prerequisite for the other two. And Akira would most likely be unhappy with him for killing someone else. But if the choice was between ending the doctor’s life, or letting Akira sleep away eternity forgotten in an attic, Goro knew which one was more important.

His choice was nowhere near as difficult as Akira’s. But then again, he and Akira were different people. They had different ideas of what was acceptable to achieve a goal. But one thing was absolutely the same.

Both of them were willing to put a bullet through a god’s head to protect what they cared about.

The problem was that he had no idea how to kill Maruki, when the man was powerful enough to simply make it so that a gunshot never happened. On his own, Goro’s options were limited unless he could somehow manage an ambush. Maruki wouldn’t be able to counter if he was dead before he realized what was happening. But with the state reality was in, something like that would be nearly impossible. So for a while, he filled his days by combing through the city, looking for weak points in Maruki’s power. If he thought of Tokyo as an extension of the Palace, there had to be the equivalent of a safe room somewhere. And if he could lure Maruki there, where his control was weaker…

But weeks passed, and nothing presented itself.

“Is this a pointless endeavor?” he asked, walking down the promenade in Kichijoji towards the station. “Mementos is _everyone’s_ cognition, correct? That means that there’s nowhere in this city that he wouldn’t have access to. There’s nowhere in the city untouched by the public’s cognition.”

_It wouldn’t need to be untouched. His control would need to be weak, not nonexistent,_ the butterfly on Goro’s shoulder said. Lavenza had taken to accompanying him around the city. While she would have preferred her normal form, the butterfly took far less energy to maintain, and Goro’s shoulder was a convenient perch.

“That’s my point,” Goro huffed. “Where would his control be weak if he has access to the cognition of everyone in Tokyo? They would cover any weak points he has.”

_Isn’t locating such a place the purpose of these outings?_

Goro sighed. Lavenza didn’t know. For a supposed ‘ruler of power’, she and her master were surprisingly unhelpful at times. Even if their Velvet Room was being blocked by Maruki’s will, they could at least offer more information.

_Knight_ , Lavenza prodded. _If no such place exists, would it not be possible to create one?_

...that was a thought. If there was one thing that Goro was good at, it was sowing chaos. Normally he could do that by berserking a shadow, but Mementos was in a strange, half-cognitive state, and he didn’t know if he could summon Loki. Or if any shadows were actually left. But there were other options. He could start small, subtle, increase the severity of his actions gradually so that Maruki didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late. The man wasn’t omnipotent. And when his control was shaken, just enough, Goro would destroy him.

“...that’s a good idea, Lavenza,” he said, and the butterfly fluttered her wings happily.

As he walked into the station, Goro decided to begin with small acts of disruption, and work his way up from there. So as he purchased a ticket to Yongen-Jaya and the clerk at the desk wished him good evening, he responded nonchalantly with, “Fuck off.”

The clerk frowned, clearly caught off-guard by the rude response, and Goro smiled to himself as he boarded the train.

_...Knight?_

“Don’t even think about scolding me for my language. I have a plan.”

_.........I see._

The ride to Yongen was quiet and uneventful. Goro bumped into someone on the stairs at the station and almost knocked them over, and walked away without an apology even as they scrambled to pick up the bag they dropped. He could tell that Lavenza was a little uneasy about his rudeness, but it was worth it. How many specks of unhappiness could he sneak into Tokyo’s days?

He’d always considered himself a cursed child. Unwanted. A burden. He’d worked so hard to make sure that people wanted him around.

Now he was going to make himself everyone’s problem.

Outside Leblanc, he encountered Morgana leaving the cafe, and the former cat smiled at him. “Hey, Akechi. How are you?”

Goro looked him over. “I’m...well, I suppose. What about you? Going out for the night?”

“Heading home,” Morgana said. “I was helping Futaba with Ryuji’s birthday present. His birthday’s next week, on the third.”

“July already…” Goro muttered, unenthused by the reminder that he had spent this long without making any meaningful progress. “Time truly flies.”

“It really does.” Morgana raised an eyebrow. “Wait a sec, didn’t we miss your birthday? Isn’t it in June?”

Goro pasted on a smile. “I prefer not to celebrate, honestly. Please don’t worry about it.” To change the subject, he asked, “So you’re going home? I thought you were boarding in the attic.”

He was caught off-guard when Morgana laughed. “Did you really forget? I moved out back in...March? I’ve got an apartment a couple streets over now. Rooming with Akira was great, but I wanted some space of my own.”

Of course Maruki would have tweaked things; Morgana couldn’t stay up there when Akira was suspended in his unnatural sleep. Goro hadn’t even paid attention to the fact that Morgana was never in the room, too focused on his own plans, and Akira. “That’s… Goodness, I really must have forgotten,” he lied easily. “I’ve been quite busy lately.”

“I’ll say. You never visit anymore,” Morgana huffed. “Will you at least be free for Ryuji’s birthday dinner? We’re going to the Wilton.”

“I think I can manage.” He would not manage. Spending hours with the happy-world versions of the Phantom Thieves would be even more grating than their normal selves. Although, it might be interesting, just to see how they explained away Akira’s inevitable absence. On a whim, he asked, “How is Akira? I’ve only managed to check in briefly.”

“Akira’s the same as always,” Morgana said. “Running around spending time with his giant social circle. He’s probably just as busy as you, honestly.”

“I see…” It was still unsettling how everyone thought Akira was spending time with everyone else. Goro wouldn’t put it past Maruki to be sending fake texts to them, too, pretending to be Akira so they would think everything was normal. “Well, it was nice to see you, Morgana. I’ll let you get home.”

“Good to see you too, Akechi. Take care of yourself.” Morgana waved, disappearing into the pedestrians of Yongen as he walked away, and Goro allowed his polite smile to drop. He’d take care of himself when the world was back to normal.

_I hate seeing Morgana like that,_ Lavenza said. She’d crawled almost into his hair, and Goro wondered if she was afraid of Morgana being able to see her. Akira had said Morgana was some kind of...being, like her. _He is humanity’s Hope; seeing him in the thrall of the benevolent god is...painful. It is a stark reminder that mankind no longer needs to hope for things._

Goro hesitated, then reached up to let the butterfly crawl into his palm. “...I still have hope,” he said. “Even if I’m the only one. I have to, or I might as well just die, and I refuse to die before _he_ does.”

The butterfly’s antennae twitched. _I’m...glad._

Sojiro wasn’t a barrier anymore, now that Goro had gotten into the attic once. Something had shifted in Leblanc; once he approached the stairs, Sojiro stopped noticing he was there. It was unnerving, but it allowed him to visit Akira as he pleased. He walked over, depositing Lavenza carefully onto the shelf before sitting on the edge of the bed. “Hello, Akira.”

He didn’t expect an answer. Sometimes he got soft, sleepy murmurs. Every once in a while, a mumbled sentence. But never anything to indicate that Akira knew what he was saying. He reached for Akira’s upturned hand, lacing their fingers together. “I’ve had an idea. I’m going to try to weaken Maruki’s control over reality by interfering with people’s happiness. If I can’t make them remember the old world, I can at least work on making this one less sickeningly perfect.”

Akira’s fingers twitched, and Goro ran his thumb back and forth soothingly. “He’s not omnipotent. And if I can force him to see that, it will make him weaker. That’s how you killed your god, right? Belief in you outweighed belief in it. I can do the same thing. And then I can pull you out of whatever stupid dreamland you’re wandering around in.” He sighed. “If you wanted to wake up sooner, though, I wouldn’t say no. You could help me. We make a good team, and you can’t tell me that you wouldn’t have fun causing a little chaos in reality. So come on, you know what you need to do, fearless leader.”

To his surprise, Akira’s brows furrowed. “I’m afraid…” he mumbled.

Operating purely on instinct, Goro squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

He watched, heart in his throat, as Akira shifted beneath the blankets. But in the end, Akira just stretched out a little, relaxing back to sleep, and Goro wilted. It was almost shameful, how excited he had gotten thinking that Akira might open his eyes. Was he really so desperate to have his rival back?

...yes. He missed Akira’s dry wit, his stupid comments, his infuriating smirk. He was spoiled, now. Fighting with Akira had made him resent being forced to solve things on his own. He was going soft.

But maybe that wasn’t so bad, if it gave him the drive to keep going.

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate summary: Local teenager decides the best way to kill God is through domestic terrorism. ;)


End file.
